Luta por direitos: estudo sobre a Associação Indígena Tembé de Santa Maria do Pará (AITESAMPA)

Abstract

The obstacles faced by the indigenous people in Brazil to enforce the rights they were granted with in the Federal Constitution of 1988 are of great effort, especially to the indigenous associations, which are an important tool in the fight for the rise of the ethnic rights, shaped like the non-indigenous organizations, they seek to develop projects that include the demand for affirmation of ethnic identities in the communities and represent the indigenous people in external and internal negotiations, contributing for the making of the autonomy and self-determination of the indigenous population. The Associação Indígena Tembé de Santa Maria do Pará (AITESAMPA) is an association that congregates the indigenous group Tembé, known as “from Santa Maria” (Northeast of Pará state), they fight for identity recognition and for the demarcation of lands, as since the 19th century, they were chased away from their lands and forced to make undesired displacements, until they established in the territory known today as the city of Santa Maria. This study is focused on the performance of the referred association, from the relevance of the social and ethnic “projects” that allow the reinforcement of the Tembé identity. In this research I analyze the strategies that were made, via “projects” developed by the Association to promote the defense of indigenous rights and the dialogue with the Brazilian State and the non-indigenous societies, that don’t accept them, especially because they are “unknown” in the ethnological literature that addresses the Tembé in the High Guamá River. The research develops itself from the indigenous narratives and follows the social movement.